Between Two Wars
by Xerxes93
Summary: With the Fourth Shinobi War over and the dead freshly buried, Hinata, Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Ino, and Shikamaru are sent on a mission to a land on the verge of a war of it's own. But unseen wounds from their war still remain.
1. Chapter 1

**I am not a huge fan of writing author notes at the beginning of a chapter, but before you start reading this fic I need to let you know a few things. First, you need to know that this fic takes place a short while after the events of chapter 699 in the Naruto verse and during Order of the Phoenix in Harry Potter verse. Secondly, I have taken 3 artistic liberties:**

**Sasuke doesn't leave the village in 699 (he does still, however, refuse the prosthetic arm)**

**The rookie nine are all still around 15, age-wise. **

**Kohona and the rest of the ninja nations are physically part of the same planet Harry Potter's England is in, I will go further into detail about this later on in the fic though.**

* * *

Hinata kneeled before Neji's grave and began to wipe it clean. She removed the flowers she had placed there yesterday (a now wilting couple of sunflowers) and put in a fresh bundle of violets. She took a deep breath and took in the morning's silence. Hinata had come to visit Neji's grave every day this week. The visits were not so much about Neji himself anymore; the task of visiting his grave was what got Hinata up in the mornings now, otherwise she would stay in bed the entire day.

Hinata sat and wondered what she should do that day. Kiba and Shino had invited her to come train with them, but she wasn't sure she wanted to be around people right then. _The physical activity could be good_, Hinata reasoned with herself, _get my mind off things_. She sighed and her stomach grumbled. Hinata had yet to eat anything today; she really hadn't had the desire to eat anything in the last few days. She only ate when her hunger became too irritable to ignore.

If she went over to the Inuzuka house right now, Kiba's mom, Tsume, would probably make her some breakfast. She was a very caring woman, maybe someone caring was what Hinata needed right now.

"Hey, Hinata."

Hinata turned around to see Naruto standing behind her, an uncomfortable, sheepish grin spread across his face. This wasn't what Hinata needed right now.

"Wh-what is it, Naruto?" she muttered.

"Oh, uh, Kaka- I mean, The Hokage is requesting us to visit him in his office for a mission briefing."

Hinata sighed and stood up, the last thing she wanted to do right now was go on a mission, especially not with Naruto. Maybe she could convince the Hokage to have someone else go. She really wasn't in much shape to go on a mission right now.

She walked in silence next to Naruto for a few minutes until Naruto broke the peace.

"So, uh… How are you, uh, holding up, Hinata?"

_I'd be 'holding up' better if you didn't ask_. "I'm doing fine, Naruto." Hinata mumbled, keeping her gaze away from him.

"That's good, that's good…" Naruto drifted off. They walked in silence for a few minutes more. "You know, Hinata…" he said, once again shattering the peaceful silence Hinata was content with, "We're all pretty worri-"

"Oh, wo-would you look at that." Hinata interrupted, "We're here." Hinata turned to Naruto and gave him a forced smile. She then walked into the building, keeping a brisk pace ahead of Naruto until she reached the door of the Hokage's office, where she knocked on the door and entered.

Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, and Sasuke were already in the office, Hokage Kakashi sat at his desk. "Good of you to join us Hinata." he said.

"Sorry I'm late!" Naruto shouted as he burst in behind her.

"Well," Kakashi sighed, "Now that you are all here, I can let you know about the mission,

"There is a school called-" Kakashi squinted at a paper in front of him, "-Hoguwarts, and the country the school is in is on the verge of attack from a terrorist group, who the headmaster of this school believes will target his school. He is willing to be pay an exuberant amount of money for us to protect the school. The issue is, however, that he cannot have us working there openly as ninjas for political reasons. So you six are going to be undercover as students there as part of a cultural exchange program. If the school comes under attack, which I think is unlikely, it is your job to protect it.

"But your other job is one of intelligence gathering. This school is in a place where chakra is used much differently than it is here. They call it 'magic.' The school you're going to teaches this magic, and as students, you are going to learn it. I expect you to gain as much information about it as possible to bring back here. The headmaster is aware of this, and will help you in your studies if you need it.

"Is there anything else I'm forgetting…" Kakashi muttered, looking over his papers once again, "Oh, yes, as you are going undercover, you cannot bring any weapons with you. You're going to go to the school now, while the school is on break to learn as much as you can so you can better fit into your roles. Oh, and the mission is going to last over the course of the year, and possibly the year afterwards if the headmaster thinks we'll still be needed." Hinata felt her gut drop, a _year?_ She was going to be on a mission for a _year_. "Despite this, you can all pack light because the school will be providing a lot of items for you. Bring maybe a few changes of clothes and any necessities. Shikamaru is going to be leading this mission.

"You have the day to prepare and say goodbye to your friends and family. Tomorrow at noon you will meet here to leave on your mission, it is of the utmost importance that you are not late. You are all dismissed."

Hinata waited for the others to leave the room, then walked up to Kakashi's desk.

"What is it, Hinata?" he inquired.

"Well, I, uh…" Hinata was suddenly very nervous, "I was just wondering if I was really the best option for this mission. I-I mean, I haven't had much experience working with the others you've chosen, m-maybe Choji would be better since he's on team ten with Shikamaru and I-Ino?"

"Unfortunately our client said he wanted and equal number of boys and girls," Kakashi told her, "Said it made it less suspicious. I also thought that a byakugan would be good for this mission, and you're the only byakugan user your age since Ne-" Kakashi stopped to Hinata's relief. "The headmaster of this school is paying more than the S-ranked fee for what is at best a B-rank mission. That rate for a year long mission is enough for you to take a few years off on when you return."

"Okay." Hinata muttered and left the room. Outside the room was an old man that looked very odd. He had a very long crooked nose and his facial features were shaped such a way Hinata had never seen before. He looked at her with blue eyes that almost seemed to twinkle, nodded to her, and entered Kakashi's office.

Hinata sighed, she began to walk to the Inuzuka house. Maybe it wasn't too late for breakfast.

* * *

"A whole year!?" Kiba slammed his hands down on the table, causing his miso soup to knock over and spill over the table. Akamaru jumped up from where he was sitting and began to lap the soup up, which disappointed Hinata because he had been resting his head on her lap and she had quite enjoyed it.

"Yeah," Hinata sighed defeatedly. Kiba grabbed a napkin and began to mop up the mess he made before Akamaru could drink it all. "I'm going to s-some school abroad to protect it. Some place called Hackuwarts or something. I've never heard of it."

Kiba shrugged, "Me neither."

Tsume gave Hinata a sympathetic pat on the back. "Maybe the time away will do you good. Let you recover from the war some."

Hinata felt her stomach lurch, she felt the need to flee. "Well, K-Kiba and I should probably get going, Shino is p-probably already waiting for us at the training grounds."

"What? But I'm not done eating yet!" Kiba complained through a mouthful of rice. Hinata gently grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out of his seat.

"Th-thank you for breakfast, Tsume, It was delicious. Come, Akamaru." Hinata left the kitchen with Kiba in tow and Akamaru following contently behind them.

* * *

Training with Kiba, Shino, and Akamaru was like going back in time for Hinata. An oasis from the reality of the now. With them Hinata could pretend they were all twelve again and getting ready for the Chunin Exams, not a care in the world, at least compared to now.

"So who are you going on the mission with, Hinata?" Shino asked, interrupting Hinata's nostalgia.

"Oh, um, Sakura, Ino, Shikamaru, Sasuke, and Naruto, are going on the mission, too."

Kiba and Shino collectively groaned.

"Uhg, a mission with _Sasuke_?" Kiba growled, "God, that guy is such a _dick_. I mean he literally betrayed the village and now he gets to come back with no consequences for his actions? I mean other than losing his arm, which, honestly, was his own fault anyway."

Hinata didn't say anything, but she agreed with Kiba. She didn't really think she could trust Sasuke, but he wasn't who she was worried about working with.

"Are you going to be okay on the same team as Naruto?" Shino asked as if on queue. "After what happened?"

"I don't know." Hinata answered somberly. "I su-suppose I'll just have to power through it, wont I?"

Shino wrapped his arms around her in a bear hug, "You'll make it through this, Hinata." he told her "How do I know that? Because you are a stronger person than you think."

Hinata felt her eyes well up with tears and she hugged Shino back. She felt something warm press against her back as she realized that Kiba was joining in on the hug too.

"You're going to do great, Hinata!" Kiba exclaimed. With that Hinata started to cry. Kiba and Shino squeezed her tighter and let her cry it out.

* * *

Hinata spent the rest of the day with Kiba and Shino. They went to visit Kurenai and her baby, went out for lunch, spent the afternoon in the forest, and watched the sunset together, Hinata curled up against Akamaru. It was without a doubt the best day Hinata had had in a very long time, and probably would have for a long time to come. But it wasn't the same as it used to be; even when Hinata was happy her happiness was somehow dulled, less meaningful than it was before.

Kiba and Shino walked Hinata home and bid her goodbye at the gate of the Hyuga compound with another tight group hug. Hinata was intercepted by her father as she walked to her room.

"I heard about your upcoming mission."

"Oh, y-you d-did?" Hinata stammered in a sudden loss of nerve.

"Yes, it's a going to be a very important mission for the village." Hiashi said, and to Hinata's surprise, he pulled her into a hug. "I... Am so _proud_ of you, Hinata."

This caught Hinata off guard. Proud? Proud of what? Where did this sudden affirmation of her as a person come from? She then realized that it had been about half a minute since her father had hugged her and she had not responded or even hugged him back. She gave him a small squeeze.

"Th... Thank you, father." To her relief, Hiashi finally released her.

"What time are you departing tomorrow?" He asked, a hand now placed firmly on her shoulder.

"At noon." Hinata mumbled.

"Good, your sister just got back from her mission earlier this evening. She's resting now, but you should spend tomorrow morning with her before you go. She's missed you."

Hinata felt her stomach drop. "Of course I will." She told him, hoping her smile seemed genuine, "Well I need to pack up before I go to bed, goodnight, father." With a small bow she said goodbye and walked to her room. When she got there, Hinata collapsed onto her bed and lay there motionlessly until she fell asleep.

* * *

"Hinata! Hinata, wake up!" Hanabi shook Hinata roughly, waking her from her sleep.

"Just let me sleep a little longer, Hanabi." Hinata groaned, her face still buried in her pillow. Hanabi tugged on Hinata's leg, pulling her out of bed. Hinata dropped onto the floor with a loud _thunk_.

"C'mon, Hinata! We have to hang out before you leave on your mission today!" Hinata looked up at her sister from where she now lay on the floor. _God she looked like Neji_, especially now that she had taken to wearing his old shirts.

Hinata loved her sister more than anything in the word, but she couldn't look at her anymore without feeling an overwhelming amount of guilt. Even now, Hanabi's presence was unbearable. But she wanted to spend the day with Hinata and she couldn't let her little sister down, especially now that Hinata was the only sibling Hanabi had.

Hinata grabbed her pillow from her bed as she stood up and hurled it at Hanabi. "Geez, Ha-Hanabi, be more patient!" The pillow hit Hanabi smack in the face. Hanabi giggled at this. "I'll m-meet you downstairs after I get dressed."

"Okay!" Hanabi cheerfully left the room. Hinata threw on some clothes and grabbed her usual bag for missions and, after removing her weapons and an especially smelly old pair of clothing, threw in an extra pair of pants and a few shirts.

"I thought you were gonna take _forever_." Hanabi whined as Hinata walked down the stairs, backpack in tow.

Hinata giggled, "You can't be so impatient, Hanabi."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's go! You're treating me to breakfast!"

"O-oh, am I?"

"Yes! We're getting ice cream!"

Hinata reached out and ruffled Hanabi's hair "Dream on."

* * *

The morning with Hanabi had been emotionally draining. It had taken a lot of Hinata's concentration to not cry when she looked at her sister; but she had managed to keep up the facade of the happy older sister, so it was a successful morning.

"Well I have to g-go now, Hanabi." Hinata said as they stood outside the hokage's office. Hanabi reached out and hugged her.

"I'm going to miss you." Hanabi said, and though her words were muffled due to her face being buried in Hinata's jacket, Hinata could tell she was crying.

Hinata wrapped her arms around Hanabi and gave her a soft squeeze. "I'm going to miss you too." She pulled away from Hanabi and wiped away one of her tears. "I'll see if I can write to you, okay?" Hanabi nodded with a tear-streaked face.

"Bye."

"Bye."

The rest of her new team was already there when she entered the office. Naruto and Sasuke were huddled together in conversation while Sakura, Ino, and Shikamaru seemed to have been casually chatting. The old man she had seen the day before was standing behind the desk next to Kakashi. And in the middle of the room, sitting on a table not usually there, was a porcelain teapot with a large crack down the middle of it.

"Now that everyone is here," Kakashi began, bringing a swift end to the chatter in the room, "let me start by introducing you all to our client, this," he motioned to the man next to him "is Albus dumbledore. He is the headmaster at the school you're going to."

"Hello." Dumbledore greeted, he checked his watch. "We have three minutes and twenty seconds. If you could, go around and introduce yourselves."

"I'm Shikamaru Nara, I'm the team leader."

"I'm Ino Yakamana."

"I'm Sakura haruno."

"I'm Naruto Uzamaki."

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"I'm Hinata Hyuga."

"Good. This-" he motioned to the teapot, "-is a portkey. In two minutes we are going to touch it and be transported to Hogwarts. There, as I believe you have been told, you will be taught our magic and will learn English for the next seven weeks, until the school term begins. Do you have any questions?"

"Did you just say 'transported'?" Sakura asked.

"I did, and we have," Dumbledore checked his watch again, "-about thirty seconds, so if you all could touch the teapot." Everyone reached out to touch it. Hinata placed a timid hand on the lid. "You'll see what I mean, miss Haruno, in... five... four... three... two... _one_."

Hinata felt her belly button yank forward as she and the others were lifted into the air. The teapot was now hot to the touch but Hinata's hand was stuck where she had placed it. As soon as it had started it was over and she landed on her feet only to be knocked over by Sasuke, who had, in turn, been knocked over by Naruto.

"I'm surprised so many of you managed to land on your feet." Dumbledore noted as Hinata and the other two stood up. Everyone else had stayed upright but them.

Hinata looked around at the room they were now in, it was a huge room, with four long tables along the length of it and one smaller one at the end. The architecture of it was unlike that of any place she had ever seen. It seemed needlessly extravagant.

As Hinata and the others looked around at their new surroundings Dumbledore smiled, "It's my pleasure to welcome you all to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

* * *

**Alright, that's the first chapter! If you enjoyed it a review would be appreciated. There might be a bit of a wait for the next chapter as I am going to write the next chapter for my other fanfic next. My guess is I'll finish chapter 2 by sometime in March.**


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a tedious month for Sasuke at Hogwarts. It had been tedious for everybody. Having to learn a tremendous amount in such a small window of time, their days were filled with mostly class. The biggest struggle was by far learning English, a language Sasuke quickly came to despise. The rules of pronunciation and spelling made no sense when they _were_ in effect, and when there was an "exception" (which seemed more often than not) everything went to hell. He and his other teammates were having such a hard time at it that Naruto ended up teaching them the shadow clone jutsu so they could all get more hours of practice in. This was a double edged sword as now at the end of the day Sasuke was not only worn out from the class, but he was also depleted of chakara.

They had two teachers. The first was Dumbledore, who because of his ability to speak japanese was instrumentally more helpful than the other teacher, a strict old woman that he still couldn't pronounce the name of. The woman tried her best, and sometimes things got through to at least one of the group so that they could explain it to the others, but the language barrier was just that, _a barrier_. Trying to make sense of what she was saying was made more difficult as she spoke in a different accent than Dumbledore, as Sasuke eventually realized. Sasuke later asked Dumbledore if varying dialects were common where they were. Dumbledore had told him they were.

Sasuke was about ready to give up on the new language entirely. For the sake of the mission he wouldn't, but the whole thing seemed like a fool's errand.

Then there was the magic. Shortly after arriving to the castle Dumbledore took them late at night to a shop where an old, short man with large silver eyes helped them find suitable wands. While testing one out, Sasuke had accidentally knocked over a shelf, causing the boxes upon boxes of wands that rested on it to fall on a napping Shikamaru. Eventually a thirteen inch rosewood wand with unicorn hair that the old man had described as "unusually stiff" shot out green sparks when he waved it and the old man seemed satisfied.

Using wands was weird. The jutsus that Sasuke and the others used required a lot of chakara. They had all experienced running out of chakara during battle, but the magic they did with wands required almost none. All of the team had overshot their spells more than once, Naruto once blasted a teapot he was supposed to be levitating into the wall. It seemed that the wands acted as a sort of conductor for their chakara. Instead of wasting chakara by using the handsigns, the wands seemed to filter the chakara for the user, making chakara control seem almost pointless.

Sometimes they'd have rest days where they would make a few shadow clones to practice, while Sasuke and rest of the team would relax. It was these days that Sasuke felt like he was a teenager for the first time in his life. No longer burdened with revenge or training for some ultimate goal, he got to catch up with Sakura and Naruto, and came to know Ino and Shikamaru quite well. They'd explore the castle, maybe hang out on top of some of the towers, once they went into the forest, only to be later scolded by the old woman because, from what he gathered, no one was allowed to go into it.

Today they were at the shore of the lake. Naruto had pulled off his robe over his head and jumped into the water wearing only his boxers. Ino soon joined him, dragging along a reluctant Shikamaru, leaving Sasuke and Sakura by the lakeside. Their other teammate, who Sasuke had recently learned was named Hinata, sat a couple yards away from them, leaning against a tree, gazing off at nothing in particular.

Since they had arrived at Hogwarts, Hinata had been elusive of Sasuke and the others. Sasuke had originally chalked this up to her not knowing anyone else in the group, but it had been a whole month and she clearly wasn't even trying to be friends. She was acting, well, like _him_, or at least how he used to be. Outside of practicing english and saying spells, Sasuke was pretty sure he hadn't heard her talk since they arrived.

"What is her deal?" Sasuke accidentally blurted aloud.

Sakura looked over at Sasuke, "What's who's deal?" she asked.

Deciding he might as well keep up the conversation now that he started it, he said "Hinata, what's up with her not talking to anyone?"

"Sasuke, she's just shy."

"Okay, I get that she doesn't know any of us, but that doesn't mean she shouldn't at least _try_ to get to know us."

Sakura furrowed her brow "What do you mean she 'doesn't know any of us'?"

"I just mean she's some random kunoichi who got assigned to this mission that we don't know." Sasuke was beginning to feel a little defensive.

"Sasuke… do you not… _know_ who Hinata is?" Sakura asked in a tone of disbelief.

Oh no. "... _Should I?_"

"Sasuke, she was in our class! She graduated with us! She's on a team with Kiba and Shino _and_ she's Neji's cousin! Do you really not remember her?!"

Sasuke thought over this new information, looking over at Hinata, the only answer that came to him was "No, I don't recognize her. But she's Neji's cousin? I guess I can see that. Where's he been anyway? I never saw him when I returned."

Sakura stared at Sasuke for a few seconds before lowering her head into her palms and letting out an exasperated sigh. From the new placement of her face, Sasuke heard Sakura say in a muffled voice "Neji died, Sasuke. During the war."

Sasuke felt his gut sink. _He died? How didn't I know?_ "Oh."

"_Oh_." Sakura repeated in a bitter tone as she lifted up her head. "Well since you apparently _don't_ _know_ _her_, let me go introduce you to Hinata." Sakura grabbed Sasuke's empty sleeve, then realizing what she did, let go of it and grabbed Sasuke's arm instead, pulling him up and over to Hinata.

"Hey, Hinata." Sakura greeted at they came up to her, "So, funny thing, Sasuke says he doesn't remember you that well, so I thought I'd come over and re-introduce you two!"

Sasuke gave Hinata a small bow "Hi."

Hinata looked up at him and nodded "Hello, Sasuke."

"Well I'm going to go join the others in the lake!" Sakura exclaimed, "You two should catch up with each other!" Sasuke felt her hand place itself firmly on his back and push him forward. "And you can join us in the lake later! Have fun!" With that she ran off to the lake, pulling her robes off over her head.

Sasuke stood there tentatively for a minute, then sat down next to Hinata. "So... Uh..." He was at a loss for words, "How... Are you?"

Hinata remained silent for a moment, looking off into the distance, then she finally spoke. "Sasuke, l-let me be honest with you. A-after what you've done I d-don't trust you and I don't want to be your friend." With that she stood up, gave a small bow, and headed towards the castle.

From the lake Sasuke heard Naruto yell "Hey, Hinata, come join us!" But she ignored him, and Sasuke watched as she crossed the lawn and walked up the castle steps.

* * *

Harry Potter had had a memorable summer. He had been attacked by dementors, then almost expelled for protecting himself from them, and then spent the rest of his summer cleaning up the ancient mess of Grimmauld Place, the new headquarters of the Order of The Phoenix and his godfather's childhood home. As he watched the new students being sorted Harry was glad the summer was over and that he was back at Hogwarts, despite the myriad of different and unfriendly looks he was getting from other students. Above him the candles floated in the ceiling's fake sky, which was a star-glistening night much like the one outside.

Finally "Zeller, Rose" was sorted into Hufflepuff, and everyone around him, excited for Dumbledore to usher in the feast, was surprised when McGonagall did not pick up the sorting hat and stool to take to the side room as she usually did, but instead walked over to the side room and opened the door, where six people walked out in the same black robes Hogwarts students wore. Dumbledore began to speak.

"To continue the spirit of international cooperation we had last year, we have opened up our school to students from the school Konohagakure in Japan. Unlike last year, these six students are not here to compete with you, but to learn with you. They will be taking classes with you, dining with you, taking the O.W.L.s with their fellow fifth years, and be sorted into houses with you. We expect you to treat them as you would your fellow classmates, and they will in turn treat you the same. Professor McGonagall, if you would."

McGonagall lifted up the sorting hat, and reading from her scroll called out "Haruno Sakura" a girl with pink hair sat onto the bench and the hat was placed on her head. after a minute the hat called out in a booming voice "RAVENCLAW" and the girl went over to the cheering Ravenclaw table.

"Hyuga Hinata" a girl with long blue hair was called up next. The hat was placed on her head and everyone in the great hall waited for the hat's decision. It was a little over two minutes in when whispers began to break out in the hall.

"Do you think she'll be a hatstall?" Hermione asked in a hushed whisper as they fell into the third minute.

"I hope not." Ron whispered back at her, "I'm starving." As if to punctuate the statement, Ron's stomach audibly rumbled.

"I'm just saying, the hat is certainly taking its time."

"Maybe she's arguing with it." Neville chimed in from across the table, "I argued with the hat and I was almost a hatstall."

"She doesn't really know about the houses though, does she?" Hermione said, "Why would she argue about being in one over the other? Maybe the hat can't decide between two houses and that's why it's taking so long, that's what happened when I was sorted."

"I guess. I just wish the hat would hurry up and make its decision." Ron groaned and slumped onto the table. "What do you think, Harry?"

Harry wasn't sure what to say on the subject because while the others had been talking he had been looking at the girl, whose face had turned pink with a blush, and he had noticed that-

"She doesn't have irises."

"What?" Ron asked.

"Her eyes are just white, she doesn't have any irises, or pupils either." Harry clarified. "Look at her."

Everyone turned to look at her, and as Harry had said her eyes were just white.

"Blimey." Ron said, "these Japanese students are a weird looking lot aren't they?"

"Ron!"

"I'm just saying! That other girl has _pink hair!_"

The hat had now been on her head for four minutes, Harry noticed that her face had turned from a pink to the same glowing red Ron's ears would turn when he was embarrassed. As Harry wondered if she was okay up there the hat finally called out "SLYTHERIN!" and the girl, with a look of relief and embarrassment got off the stool and walked over to the cheering Slytherin table.

The rest of the sorting went rather quickly. "Nara Shikamaru" was sorted into Ravenclaw almost immediately after the hat touched his head. "Uchiha Sasuke" was sorted into Slytherin in less than thirty seconds ("Jeez are they all going to be sorted into Slytherin and Ravenclaw?" Ron groaned.) "Uzumaki Naruto" was sorted into Gryffindor ("Finally!" Ron exclaimed as he clapped.) And finally, "Yamanaka Ino" was sorted into Hufflepuff.

With everyone sorted the Great Hall settled. Dumbledore stood up "To our newcomers, welcome. To our old hands, welcome back. There is a time for speech making, but this is not it. Tuck in." Food appeared on the tables, and the hall erupted with the clatter of students serving themselves food and talking amongst themselves. As Harry began to serve himself, he noticed that among the normal dishes that were served, there were also plates with what he was pretty sure was sushi, though he had never actually tried it himself. The Dursleys detested "ethnic" food and even if they hadn't, it's not like they would have taken Harry to a restaurant with them. Harry took one of the pieces and ate it, then deciding it wasn't for him, served himself some steak and kidney pie.

The exchange student who had been sorted into Gryffindor was sitting only a few seats away. Now that Harry was able to get a closer look at him, he noticed that even though Naruto had blonde hair and blue eyes his facial features were distinctly Asian, and he had three dark lines going across each cheek. Harry knew one person who had an unnatural hair color without dying it, Tonks, who as a metamorphmagi could change her appearance at will. Harry wondered if the trait was more common among Japanese wizards, which would explain the stranger looking of the exchange group.

From across the room, Harry saw Draco talking avidly to Hinata who looked disinterested as she poked at the food on her plate.

* * *

"-And of course my father wouldn't stand for it, so he contacted the minister of magic- who is a family friend- and had him put a stop to it."

Hinata wished the boy next to her would stop talking to her. At this point in the conversation she had already forgotten his name and didn't even know what it was he was talking about, but there was a bragging tone to his voice that she did not favor.

Hinata looked at the array of food on the table with disinterest, she had tried most of the food before her over the summer and had found she wasn't fond of it. There was a new addition to her options, a plate with sushi on it, Hinata wondered why it was there. Being a landlocked area, Kohona was not a place where sushi was common or popular, in fact, Kohona was well known for their grilled meats, raw fish didn't have much of a place there. Hinata resigned to eating it anyway, after all it was something different than what she had had to eat all summer.

As she took a bite, she was overcome with disgust. _This_ _sushi_ _tastes_ _awful_, she thought as she forced herself to swallow it and pushed away her plate.

"Oh, you're done eating?" The boy next to her asked, "What did you like best?

_None of it_, "Oh, the- uh- potato."

He looked at her skeptically "The _potato_?"

"Uh... Yeah" she gave him a nervous smile and looked back down at her plate.

"So, why did the sorting hat take so long to sort you?"

"...It wasn't sure what house I belonged in." It was embarrassing enough that she had to sit up there for so long with everyone staring at her, did he really have to ask her about it?

"Well I know _that_, I mean what was the house that the hat was deciding between?"

Hinata did not want to tell this person that the delay on the hat's decision was not because it thought she was equally suited for another house but because the hat didn't think she particularly belonged to _any_ of them. It had eventually chosen Slytherin because according to the hat she was pureblood (whatever that meant) and had once been ambitious and perhaps Slytherin could help her regain that. So she defaulted to the thing she had been relying on a lot lately: lying.

"G-Gryffindor." She told him.

"Ugh, Gryffindor." He sneered, "can you imagine being in the same house as those brash imbeciles? They're all blood traitors and mudbloods."

Blood traitors? Mudbloods? Hinata hadn't learned these terms over the summer, and judging by his tone she wasn't sure she wanted to know what they meant. At this point Hinata knew that even if she didn't respond to him, the boy would continue to talk to her anyway, but that wasn't going to stop her from trying. So she didn't respond.

As Hinata expected, the boy kept talking.

"Honestly, those Gryffindors are n-" He began, but was cut off as the rest of the hall suddenly went silent, looking up at the staff table, Hinata saw that Dumbledore had stood up and was now beginning to speak.

She didn't listen. Looking down at her plate again Hinata didn't do much of anything, she didn't think much of anything either, she simply stared at her plate waiting for the speech to be over.

There was finally the clatter of students getting up and talking amongst each other and Hinata got up to leave.

"Hinata, wait," the boy said " I need to show you where the Slytherin common room is."

* * *

Harry walked to the Gryffindor common room on his own as Ron and Hermione had to show the first years to the common room as part of their prefect duties. Not wanting to be stared at anymore, he used a few secret passages as short cuts and within a few minutes was in front of the portrait of the fat lady.

She looked down at him, "Password?" It was at this point that Harry realized that he did not know the password.

"Uh-"

"Harry, I know it!" A voice behind him cried, and Harry turned around to see Neville panting towards him, Naruto by his side. "I know the password, and I won't forget it either!" He held up his cactus, "It's _Mimbus Mimbletonia_."

"That's correct." The fat lady said as her portrait swung open. The three walked into the common room.

"Hi, I'm Uzamaki Naruto." Naruto said as he outstretched a hand to Harry.

"Uh, I'm Harry." Harry said as he took Naruto's hand and shook it. "Harry Potter."

"Good to meet you!" Naruto exclaimed, smiling so that the lines on his cheeks stretched. "Nebbil was just telling me about his plant! It's cool! Do you have any plants?" Naruto looked at Harry with an eager fascination as they began to climb the stairs.

"Oh, uh, no." Harry mumbled, "I, uh, do have an owl, though. Her name is Hedwig. I could show her to you sometime if you'd like."

Naruto beamed at him as they walked into the dormitory "Yeah! Cool!" From across the room Dean and Seamus looked like they had abruptly ended a conversation as Harry and the others entered, Harry had a sinking feeling he knew what about.

"Hi," Harry said as he moved across the room to his trunk and opened it. There was now an additional bed in the dormitory for Naruto, which Naruto had gone over to and was now rifling through his trunk.

"Hey, Harry," said Dean as he pulled on his pajama top that was in the West Ham colors then looked over to Naruto. "It's Narudo, isn't it? I'm Dean."

"It is Naruto, actually." Naruto told him as he pulled a pair of pajamas out of his trunk. "Nice to meet you."

"And you," Dean said, "And this is Seamus," he said gesturing over to Seamus, who had not spoken since Harry and the others had entered the room. He was overly focused on making sure that his poster of the Kenmare Kestrels Quidditch team was straight.

"Hi," he muttered.

Neville turned to Naruto, as he opened his trunk, "So how did you get here? I didn't see any of you on the train here."

"We took a po…" Naruto paused, seemingly in search for the word, "Po… Portkey! We took a portkey here this morning so Dumbledore could show us around the school." He yawned and put on a nightcap that looked like it had a face. "I'm gonna sleep." he said, and crawled into bed.

"Good holiday, Harry?" Dean asked.

"Not bad," muttered Harry, not wishing to go into a full account of the events of the summer, "You?"

"Yeah, it was ok," chuckled Dean. "Better than Seamus's, anyway."

"Why, what happened, Seamus?" Neville asked as he pulled on a pair of pajama pants.

Seamus was silent for a moment, apparently admiring the job he did hanging up his poster. "Me mam didn't want me to come back."

"What?" said Harry, pausing in the act of pulling off his robes.

"She didn't want me to come back to Hogwarts." Seamus said as he turned away from his poster and pulled his pajamas out of his trunk, looking away from Harry.

"But- why?" asked Harry, astonished. He couldn't understand why Seamus's mother, who was a witch, had become so Dursleyish.

Seamus kept silent as he buttoned up his pajamas. When he finally finished, he said "Well… I suppose… because of you."

"What d'you mean?" said Harry quickly. His heart was racing. He had a vague feeling of dread.

"Well," Seamus still wasn't looking at Harry, "She… er… well, it's not just you, it's Dumbledore, too…"

"She believes the Daily Prophet?" Harry said, he felt heat rise up in him. "She thinks I'm a liar and Dumbledore's an old fool?"

Seamus looked at Harry. "Yeah, something like that."

Harry didn't say anything. He was sick of being the person who was stared at and talked about all the time. He threw his wand onto his bedside table and pulled off his robes that he then stuffed angrily into his trunk. None of them had the faintest idea what it felt like to have these things happen to him. He pulled on his pajamas. Mrs Finnigan had no idea, the stupid woman.

Harry got into bed and as he made to pull the hangings around him closed Seamus nervously said "Look… what did happen that night when… you know, when… with Cedric Diggory and all?" Dean paused in the middle of bending over to pick up his slipper and Harry could tell he was listening hard.

"What are you asking me for?" Harry responded. "Just read the Daily Prophet like your mother, why don't you? That'll tell you all you need to know."

"Don't you have a go at my mother!" Seamus snapped.

"I'll have a go at anyone who calls me a liar!" said Harry.

"Don't talk to me like that!"

"What are you two yelling about?"

Harry looked over to see that Naruto had sat up in his bed, clearly having not fallen asleep yet due to the talking.

"He's having a go at my mother!" Seamus yelled.

"Only because she believes the stinking Daily Prophet that's calling me a liar!" Harry responded.

"The daily what?" Naruto asked.

"The Daily Prophet," Neville chimed in from behind his closed bed hangings, "It's a newspaper."

Naruto turned to Harry, "And they think you lie?"

"Yes!" Harry said exasperated.

"About what?"

"About You-Know-Who being back." Seamus said.

Naruto looked at Seamus with a furrowed brow and tilted his head. "I… _don't_ know who?"

At this moment Ron walked into the room. "Hey, guys." he greeted, then, noticing Naruto, said, "Oh, it's Naruto, right? I'm Ron, nice to meet you."

"I'm going to bed." Seamus grumbled, and with a huff, he got into bed and pulled the bed curtains shut with such ferocity that they ripped from the bed and fell to the floor in a dusty heap.

"Who's you-know-who?" Naruto asked perplexed as he scootched towards the foot of his bed. Seamus ignored him as he grabbed his wand off his bedside table and repaired the bed hangings.

"You don't know who you-know-who is?" Ron asked as he opened his trunk.

"No."

"Not at all? You-know-who, he-who-must-not-be-named?"

Naruto shrugged, "No."

"His name is Voldemort." Harry said. The reaction was immediate, Ron flinched, a muffled yelp came from Neville's bed, Dean stiffened, and Seamus swore.

"Yeah!" Naruto said in recognition, "Dumbledore told us about him! He said we would be safe here though so," Naruto shrugged dismissively, "eh."

Seamus huffed from behind his bed curtains.

"So what's wizarding school like in Japan?" Ron asked as he pulled on a pair of pajama pants.

Naruto furrowed his brow, "It's hard to say."

Harry looked at Naruto in interest, "Hard to say?"

"In English," Naruto specified, "I don't know a lot of English words yet."

"You seem to be speaking English pretty well to me." Ron grumbled in disappointment.

"I'm only good at small conversation, now." Naruto said, "But I'll get better here. I'm going to sleep now." And with that Naruto reached up and closed his bed curtains.

Ron leaned over to Harry, "That was a little suspicious, eh?" He whispered.

"Suspicious?"

"Yeah, how he avoided talking about his school?" Ron looked over to Naruto's bed, "that's _suspicious_."

Harry lay back on his pillows thinking about this as Ron bustled around the next bed, putting his things away. Naruto's inability with the english language wasn't suspicious, was it? It did strike Harry as odd that at now of all times Dumbledore would be opening up their school to foreign students. Hogwarts was a safe place, but certainly the Konohagakure students would be safer in Japan where there was no looming threat of Voldemort?

Harry looked over at Seamus's bed. He felt shaken by the row he had had with him. Harry had always thought of Seamus as a friend, how many other people important to him would think that he was lying? Had Dumbledore suffered like this all summer? After all, everyone that thought Harry was a liar would have to think that Dumbledore was too, or was gullible.

_They'll know we're right in the end_, Harry thought to himself grimly as Ron blew out the last candle and the dormitory went dark. Harry wondered how many doubters like Seamus he'd have to endure before that time came.

* * *

**Hey, I finally updated this fanfic! Only took me almost a year! I promise I didn't forget about this fic or abandon it, I just had a hard time writing the next chapter of my other fanfic, which I published in June, and then spent the next six months struggling with mainly the last scene of this chapter. Rewriting scenes from canon is really hard for me, thus this chapter took for-freaking-ever. I'm sorry about that. I don't know when I'll write and publish another chapter of this, but expect it eventually. I'm not going to abandon this fic, it's just gonna take me a while to write. **

**The cover art for this is something that I drew myself, if you liked it you should check out my tumblr maybe. **

**If you liked this chapter, leave a review. It really does help me write when I know people like what I'm writing. Thank you all so much for your patience. **


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